Eagles, college sports, and debt: Letters

January 8, 2014

The penalty for killing an eagle is $5,000 and up to a year in prison per eagle. It is illegal to even possess an eagle feather — unless you are a wind-farm operator.

A new federal rule allows wind companies to avoid the law. These select companies can kill bald and golden eagles, free of prosecution, for 30 years. A Dec. 6 Associated Press article reported the U.S. would allow eagle deaths to aid wind power.

A simple wire guard would probably prevent most of these deaths. Why isn't there an Environmental Protection Agency regulation requiring such a guard on each wind turbine? The EPA regulates everything else, so why not wind turbines to protect our national bird?

Bob Montgomery Longwood

Put college sports in proper perspective

As a long-time college professor, I am offended by the quote by Florida State University's Kenny Shaw in Saturday's Orlando Sentinel ("Shaw out to catch a BCS title").

I realize that this time of year, especially, football is king, and that the money and prestige follow the winners. Along with many other people, I stayed up late to cheer the University of Central Florida to its win over Baylor, but don't we need to enjoy American football within the perspective of its lack of importance to the future of its players and to this country?

Reading Shaw's comment — "That's the reason you come to a college ... you want that crystal ball [national championship trophy]" — made me want to shout, "Maybe for you, Kenny, that is all a college education is about, but there are thousands of other students who come to college to prepare for their futures and, maybe, in the process, do something worthwhile for humanity."

I empathize with the professors who have to try to teach academics to many of today's college athletes.

Saint Leo University is a Catholic, liberal arts-based institution founded 125 years ago in Pasco County. We offer a small-campus residential environment for more than 2,200 students at University Campus, but also teach adults in education centers. We have been teaching students online since 1998.

Of our total fall 2013 population of 16,275 students, nearly, 3,200 were students from all 50 states seeking undergraduate degrees exclusively online. A larger number take some online courses as part of their degrees. The undergraduate-degree offerings available online cover a broad array. We agree with consultant Robert Lytle that online education is here to stay.

There is no need to think that an online education is somehow less than an education received in traditional classroom settings. The key factor in either modality is student engagement. Saint Leo faculty use discussion forums, instant messaging, Skype tools and other interactive means to establish connections with and among students online.

Our faculty create the course material with our instructional designers to ensure consistent high quality. We also employ online student-support staff who work with students from admission through degree completion and career planning.

I was impressed by the Sentinel's Saturday editorial "Teaching students how to manage money pays."

Kudos to State Sen. Dorothy Hukill for sponsoring a bill that would make it mandatory for high-school students to take a financial literacy course. Sponsors are hopeful the proposal can be adopted for classes this fall.

Such actions renew my faith in local government. Someone saw a need for financial education in the public schools, and came up with a well-thought-out plan that could be implemented in a relatively short time.

Compare this to President Obama's executive order issued on June 25 establishing the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans: "To contribute to the Nation's future financial stability and increase upward economic mobility, it is the policy of the Federal Government to promote financial capability among young Americans and encourage building the financial capability of young people at an early stage in schools, families, communities and the workplace."

When I was in school, I was taught that the powers not delegated to the U.S. by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people by the Bill of Rights.

Shouldn't educational issues be part of the state's powers? I believe this is another example of our president trying to further expand the role of the federal government.

Peg Whitten Orlando

Better to avoid debt than to manage it

The "managing debt" concept mentioned in the Sentinel editorial on Saturday is a bank marketing slogan that often leads gullible consumers to financial ruin.

Instead, our students need to learn that avoiding debt has been a financially successful strategy for generations of families since the invention of money.

Banks have essentially become white-collar criminal enterprises, and their managing-debt advertising should be condemned by all responsible citizens and institutions.